mysterious bunny eye problem

Question
hello. i aquired a baby bunny in june she was 3 months old and i took her to the vet and he gave her a clean bill of health. it has been downhill since. she was taken again to the vet in october because i noticed a small red mark in her eye and her eye veins were very large in her eye.. the vet said she must have scratched her retna. he gave me sauve to put in her eye...two weeks later she developed head tilt. her eye by the way was worse. he claimed it was an ear infection and gave he a shot of antibiotic and antibiotics for her to take. He also gave her a 50/50 chance of survival. I hand fed her every four hours for two weeks until she was able to eat herself..which she had gotten quite used to her new food...Anyways she slowly began to bring her head back up and now it is fine but her eye is much worse..My vet now claims it it snuffles.i have researched this and i dont think so..she has what looks like a pus and blood tumor , that doesn't patrude out. it is in the far part of the coloring of her eye..she never sneezes and she has no discharge.from her nose or eye. she doesnt act like she is in pain and she eats and drinks well. she gets skiddish when you first go to lift her i think because her vision in the one eye may be hindered...he has suggested that if it keeps growin she should loose her eye..we have been to two three week check up ups and yes it is growin..i just feel that he may be missing what is really wrong...he is one of the most well respected vets in my area.....what is your oppinion?

Answer
Dear Karen,

Is the vet you are seeing primarily a dog/cat vet, or does he specialize in exotics?  Even some exotics vets are not well versed in rabbit medicine, so to be sure you have the  very best in *rabbit* knowledge, please use the list linked here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

to find a good rabbit vet in your area.  Your vet may be terrific for many species, but might not be very experienced with the unusual and special medical needs of rabbits.

Now, with that said, I must say that without seeing the eye I cannot really tell you for sure what it might be.  But if the eye is protruding *and* she had a head tilt, then my suspicion is that she has a retrobulbar (behind the eyeball) abscess that's pushing the eye out of its socket.  This isn't as horrific as it sounds, and it is very likely treatable.

Did the vet give your bunny only *one* shot of antibiotics?  And if so, what type of antibiotic was it?  And how long a course of antibiotics was she given to take after the shot?

Retrobulbar abscesses can be caused by any number of species of bacteria, and because Pasteurella is not uncommon in rabbits, many vets will *assume* this is the causative agent of a problem like this.  (For an overview of "snuffles," please see:  www.bio.miami.edu/hare/sneezing.html)  However, a retrobulbar abscess may actually be dental in origin, since the molar roots are located directly under the eye orbits.  If a molar root is infected, the abscess can travel behind the eye and cause the eye to protrude.  Bacteria causing this type of problem may *not* be Pasteurella, and may include nasty things such as Enterobacter or other intestinal bacteria.

One of the most effective antibiotics for treating head abscesses in rabbits is *injectible* Penicillin G Procaine with Benzathine, a combination known as bicillin.  You can read more about this here:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/bicillin.html

and more about head abscesses and their treatment here:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/jawabscess.html

Note that oral penicillins are usually *fatal* for rabbits, and that injectible Pen G is the only penicillin considered safe for rabbits.  It can be *very* effective at resolving abscesses like this, and I would definitely ask the vet about trying this (it can take several weeks to work, and I would allow at least a month) before resorting to enucleation (removal) of the eye.  

Pain management is important now, too.  Please ask the vet about Banamine (flunixin meglumine) or other analgesic that she can have while the antibiotics do their work.

I hope this helps get you started.  Please write back if you have any other questions.

Dana